The Management Board of the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic, Culture and Tourism will preside and coordinate with the Ethnic Culture Department, the departments under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the related-units from ministries, provinces to organize the festival.

This event aims to celebrate 65th anniversary of the day President Ho Chi Minh sent his letter to the Congress of Southern Ethnic Minority Groups in Pleiku (19/4/1947-19/4/2012); honour the culture of Vietnamese ethnic groups; boost cultural exchanges and strengthen national unity of Vietnamese ethnic groups. This is also an opportunity to promote and introduce the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic, Culture and Tourism to visitors.

The festival consists of 8 main contents: preliminary conference to review 03 years of implementing Decision 1668/QD-TTg on 17/11/2008 of the Prime Minister on “Viet Nam Ethnic Group Cultural Day” on 19 April; conference on promotion and investment to develop culture-tourism products; a gala night to honour the culture of Vietnamese ethnic groups; northern mountain markets; activity programs of representatives of 13 ethnic community groups at the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic, Culture and Tourism; traditional craft village exhibition; performance of traditional games, sports; and camping festival of Ho Chi Minh Youth Union of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Highlight of the festival is the Gala Night to honour the culture of Vietnamese ethnic groups with the participation of 13 ethnic groups from 08 provinces. It will take place from 20h00 to 22h00 on 19 April 2012 at the floating stage in the Ethnic Villages Area of the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic, Culture and Tourism.

The festival will let cultural subjects speak for themselves at the “common house” of 54 ethnic groups in Viet Nam. All activities are carefully selected with cultural identities of ethnic minorities and regions, to ensure its quality, art content, characters of ethnicity, modernity, community, diversity, richness, and unique to contribute to honoring the Vietnamese ethnic culture. In addition, the programs will be associated with other tourism and sports activities to facilitate exchanges between ethnic groups, provinces, domestic and international visitors.

Within the framework of festival, the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism will guide travel enterprises to connect their tours and tourist destinations with cultural tourism programs at the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic, Culture and Tourism; coordinate to hold Conference on promotion and investment to develop culture-tourism products; cooperate with press agencies to introduce the event and tourism products of the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic, Culture and Tourism.

Thanks to having developed large-scale theme parks, some countries have become more popular in tourists’ hearts and minds, attracting thousands of visitors every year.

However, developing entertainment projects with support facilities attractive enough to lure local and international visitors is a problem that requires adequate investment and market research for most property developers.

Speaking at a property conference and exhibition Vietnam International Real Estate Connection (VIREC), hosted by G4B Branding Real Estate Marketing Company in HCMC last week, Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said Vietnam was a popular destination for international visitors. This was proved by the increasing number of international arrivals every year, as well as the increase in the number of local tourists.

Tuan said the country’s tourism industry strategy was shifting towards being more competitive. Therefore, developing leisure property projects would contribute to supporting the sector, going along with the orientation of the country’s tourism development strategy set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Thibault Paquin, principal of the Hong Kong-based company Celebrating Life Asia, shared experiences to participants at the event themed ‘Modern Entertainment Investment Inspires the Next Development’ and said that the leisure industry had changed a lot with many entertainment projects underway.

Paquin said among Asian countries, China with huge yearly revenue from the local tourism market had developed some large theme parks in the country. Countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia were going ahead with their plans to develop amusement projects.

He presented participants with three model investments, saying privately developed projects were often small in scale and generate low profits to developers.

Meanwhile in the second model, local government would support developers by offering land with infrastructure development.

International investors often chose this model thanks to having support from local government; however, it sometimes required longer negotiations with local authorities. In the third model investment, a developer would develop land and infrastructure, and then invite other partners to jointly develop the project.

Looking to the current situation in Vietnam, he suggested local developers should combine the first and third models to develop an entertainment project.

In fact, local group Khang Thong has called for partners to invest in its entertainment complex which covers 266 hectares along the Vam Co Dong River in Long An Province’s Ben Luc District.
The US$2 billion Happy Land project, which is likened to the world’s famous resorts such as Disneyland or Universal Studio, will include leisure and water parks, commercial centers, three-to-five-star hotels, restaurants, discotheques, and indoor and outdoor theaters.

Luke Riley, Asian regional director for Sanderson Group International, said there were certain aspects developers should not overlook, including market research and feasibility studies and adequate investment.

Site and area evaluation, demographic assessment, competitor analysis and forecast attendance figures are what a developer should do before rolling up its sleeves to develop an entertainment project. He said adequate investment will help developers swiftly return on investment.

Paquin said that China spent 10 years trying to attract international theme park developers to the country, and wondered whether Vietnam could and should attract foreign developers now.

Tong Van Nga, vice chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, said the developing entertainment project required a specific plan; and each region has its own characters, thus a theme park project should be developed based on those characters.

He, however, said that there was still a long way to go before Vietnam calls for international investors to develop the entertainment industry.
(Source: The Saigon Times Daily)

A book fair will also be held, with both adults and children’s literature presented in their original language as well as a Vietnamese translation.

From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, the Goethe Institute, 54-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street will host an evening of Italian and German literature. Italian embassy officials will introduce new translations of the classic Se questo è un Uom” (If This is a Man) by Primo Levi and two children’s books Lo stralisco (Glowworm Flowers) and Mattia e il nonno (Mattino and his grandfather) by Roberto Piumini.

Four German books will be launched in the Vietnamese market during the fair, including Schweigeminute (Moment of Silence), a love story by Siegfried Lenz; fantasy novel Nijura. Das Erbe der Elfenkrone (Nijura. The Heritage of the Elf Queen) by the successful young Vietnamese-German author Jenny Mai Nguyen; Daniel Kehlmann’s Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World); and David Safier’s Mieses Karma (Lousy Karma).

The following day, from 8:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., the French Cultural Institute, L’ Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street will present Encyclopédie Larousse des 6/9 ans (Larousse Encyclopedia for 6-9 year olds) and new children’s books by Claude Roy.

From 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Vietnamese readers will have a chance to access a new series of Belgian novels by Amelie Nothomb such as Stupeur et tremblements (Fear and Trembling), Hygiene de l’Assassin (Hygiene and the Assassin), Journal de l”Hirondelle (Diary of Swallow) and Ni d’Eve Ni d’Adam (Tokyo Fiancée).

In addition, the children’s book ‘A journey’ will be presented as the result of a Vietnamese-Danish co-production, in two languages. The work has received much positive publicity in Denmark. The Vietnamese version is published by Kim Dong Publishing House. Admission to both days, the first such event in Vietnam, is free.
(Source: SGT)

The seminar attracted 120 managers of travel agents and hotels as well as news agencies from Shenzhen City in China.

It provided a good opportunity for businesses from both countries to cooperate and promote Da Nang to Chinese visitors.

Da Nang is currently welcoming around 1,000 visitors every month, five times more than in 2010.
(Source: VOV)

The program is a chance for Vietnamese and Asian children in the capital to introduce their own nation’s culture via activities, games and toys.

These activities help children to identify and appreciate the differences between the cultures of Southeast Asian countries.

Children will perform many kinds of ethnic dances such as Tari pendet of Indonesia and Laos panpipe shows. Songs from Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam will be performed, along with a fashion show featuring costumes of Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Kids will play folk games from different nations and they’ll be taught how to make flower toys, grasshoppers or fish from leaves, animals with wrapping paper and paper fans.

Children will also learn about Asian flags, currencies and cultural heritages at the museum in Nguyen Van Huyen Road, Cau Giay District.
(Source: SGT

Woo Kyeong Hwa, female artist graduated from Ewha Women’s University in 1987. She has lived in Hanoi for six years and has participated in the course of lacquer for nearly three years at the Hanoi University of Fine Arts (2003-2006).

At the exhibition, she brought 13 Chalk art works, a new art form in Vietnam. Most of the themes were taken from the “Teddy Bear”, giving spectators multicolored and friendly perspective about the adorable animal.

Joining this exhibition also Yoo Haejung, a schoolfellow of Woo in Ewha Women’s University. “Stone” is the theme throughout her works on display at the exhibition. They brought spectators special feeling for the beauty and uniqueness of stone under the Korean traditional painting style.

Young painter Kim Minseung inherites artistic talents from his mother, Woo has received assistance from his own teacher, Yoo Haejung. He will introduce his penciled drawings with bold personality of the young Korean painters.

The exhibition will last till May 30.
(Source: SGT)

The college was originally a French public secondary school known as Yersin High School when it was founded in 1933 until the liberation of the south of Viet Nam in 1975.

Yersin is a French doctor who discovered Da Lat and established it as a destination for vacationers.

After 1975, the school became the Da Lat Teachers’ College and currently has more than 2,000 students, many of them of ethnic groups.

Built in 1932 and completed in 1938, the railway station is another of Da Lat’s attractions, featuring French architecture. The station, which linked Da Lat with Nha Trang, closed in 1972 because of the American War.

It re-opened a decade ago, transporting tourists on the country’s shortest rail route, only 7km, from Da Lat to Trai Mat Village.

The station and the college were built by French architects with construction materials brought from France. They became national cultural relics in 2001.

“The architecture of the two buildings must be kept intact during repair,” said Nguyen The Hung, director of the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“New bricks or materials used in repair must be in harmony with old ones,” Hung said.
The railway station and the college will have their roofs, floors and corridors upgraded.

The Da Lat Children’s Prison was set up in 1971 by the Sai Gon regime. It kept more than 600 young revolutionary soldiers, including 200 girls, from 1971 to 1973. Many prisoners were jailed at the age of 12.

The Sai Gon regime was forced to close the prison in June 1973 after several uprisings of the young prisoners.

The prison was officially recognised as a relic in 2009.
(Source: VNS)

Chairman of the VAPA Vu Quoc Khanh said the event aims to help Vietnamese photographers improve their skills, especially in taking professional art photos, as well as expand exchanges with international counterparts.

The organising board will receive entries, including coloured or black and white photos, from June 15 to August 31 on the website www.contestvn2011.com or through the email contestvn2011@gmail.com.

Foreigners who are working and living in Vietnam also can send their entries with the theme “Vietnam’s images through international friends’ lens” to the contest.

The award ceremony will be held by the end of November this year in Hanoi.
(Source: VNA)

The International Buddhist Museum, the first its kind in Sri Lanka, opened on May 20. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, venerable, monks of the Sri Lanka Buddhism and diplomats and Buddhist representatives from foreign countries attended the opening ceremony.

The Museum is situated in campus of an ancient pagoda in Kandy. It provides visitors with knowledge about the Buddhist culture as well as the development and influence of Buddhism in the world.

Participant countries showcase their objects on the historical value of Buddhism in separate chambers.

The Museum was part of festivals held by Sri Lanka from May 17-22 to mark the 2,600th anniversary of the enlightenment of the Lord Buddha and his birthday.
(Source: VNA)

All structures of the Forbidden City, the homes of kings and royal families that were once off-limits to the common people, will be restored according to their original architecture and designs.

The restoration of Thai Hoa Palace, or the Palace of Heavenly Peace, where coronations and the court’s premier ceremonies took place, hallways in the Forbidden City, mausoleums dedicated to Kings Thieu Triand Dong Khanh, among others, will be completed by the end of next year.

From then until 2017, work will be carried out on the Can Chanh Palace where kings held court; the Phung Tien Palace which houses altars worshipping the Nguyen Kings; the left and right wing pavilions of Thai Hoa Palace; mausoleums of kings Gia Long and Thieu Tri; and the Tinh Tam (Peace of Mind) Lake.

The Can Thanh Palace, where kings had meals and slept, and the Khon Thai Palace, home of queens and senior concubines, and the Ngu tien van phong (King’s Office) as well as the system of walls and gates of the Forbidden City will be restored between 2017 and 2020.

Other structures outside the Forbidden City, like the Kham Thien Giam (court’s observatory and meteorological agency), Nam Giao Platform where kings worshipped Heaven, mausoleums dedicated to Tu Duc King and Nguyen Lords (ancestors of Nguyen Kings), and waterways in the feudal city will also be restored by 2020.

The plan will also give a facelift to natural landscapes around the monuments and relocate residents who have encroached into monument areas. The restoration of intangible cultural values, preservation of traditional handicrafts and training the next generation of artisans are also envisaged in the plan.

Total investment for the restoration and preservation works will exceed VND2.5 trillion (US$120 million), according to Nguyen Minh Bieu, director of the project’s managing board.

He said the project is part of a 10-year (2010-2020) conservation plan prepared by the central Government for the former feudal capital of Hue, he said.

Around 20 sub-projects have been approved so far and some of them have already begun implementation. Another 27 other sub-projects are at the formulation stage.
(Source: VNS)